Many medical treatments, especially in a hospital or clinic setting, require that the healthcare providers have access to sites of the patient's body. For example, it is often necessary to deliver drugs, medication, fluids and/or nutrition supplementation intravenously to the patient. Typically such delivery is done through an intravenous access device that is connected to a location on the patient's body (oftentimes somewhere on the patient's arm or chest). It is also often necessary to access areas of the patient's body to monitor the patient's health. There are many types of intravenous access devices. Certain types of medication, such as chemotherapy, are often delivered intravenously to the patient via intravenous access devices designed to be used for a prolonged period of time, such as a peripherally inserted central catheter (known as a PICC or PIC line). PICC lines are often inserted in a patient's arm. Chemotherapy can also be delivered by other intravenous access devices, such as a Hickman line inserted in the patient's chest. Some intravenous access devices (often called ports or porta-caths) are implanted subcutaneously and do not have an external connector. Medication, fluids and/or nutrition supplementation can be delivered continuously (an intravenous drip) or intermittently. A patient may have more than one intravenous access device connected to different locations of his/her body.
Because of the need to regular access at least one site on the patient, in a hospital or clinic setting patients typically are often required to take off articles of clothing. This frequent and repeated occurrence causes discomfort to the patient and is cumbersome for the healthcare provider. Even if it is not necessary to remove clothing entirely, regular clothing interferes with the healthcare provider's ability to easily and quickly access areas of the patient's body. In addition, when a patient needs to remove his or her shirt, a healthcare provider may need to remove whatever drug delivery devices may be connected to an intravenous access device inserted in the patient's arm or chest and then reconnect those devices after the patient changes his or her shirt. Alternatively, the patient could wear limited clothing, but this will cause discomfort due to the cool temperatures of a hospital or clinic setting. Also, not wearing clothing may not be socially acceptable and have a negative impact on the patient's self esteem.
Some have attempted to design clothing to allow a healthcare provider easier access to a particular location of the patient's anatomy. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,198,614, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Adapting Clothing to Allow Access For Medical Procedures,” discloses a method and apparatus for positioning and creating an opening in a person's shirt or blouse at a location that varies depending on the underlying location necessary to perform a medical procedure. The patent discloses creating such an opening to allow access to a porta-cath without requiring the patient to remove his or her shirt or blouse.
The invention disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,198,614 still requires the drug delivery device connected to the porta-cath to be disconnected in the event the patient's shirt or blouse needs to be removed. The disclosure requires a custom modification of a particular patient's shirt or blouse. In addition, the shirt disclosed in that patent causes a portion of the patient's body to be substantially uncovered by clothing. It is therefore still desirable to create clothing that will be more flexible in terms of allowing a healthcare provider easier access to different parts of the patient's anatomy and that does not require custom modification. It is also still desirable to create clothing that will permit the area of treatment to remain substantially covered even when treatment is being administered. It is also still desirable to create clothing that can be removed without requiring a healthcare provider to disconnect one or more drug delivery devices. It is also desirable to create a method for accessing an area on a patient's body for treatment while permitting the patient continue to wear comfortable clothing.